Get EU funding for your research and innovation
More than €1.2 trillion in EU funding will be invested in 2021-27 in six comprehensive areas. With funding rates of 70-100% and additional 25% overhead on top, research and development grants from the European Union can have a massive impact on your competitiveness, technology and research leadership. Rolls-Royce, for instance, received about 70M€ from Horizon 2020 grants.
Whether you're seeking funding for research, innovation and digitalization or green transition, we can support you to secure millions of euros in European funding.
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What and how much is funded?
The European Union invests in R&D collaboration, product development, scale-up, commercialization and market access of innovation - basically from very early stage innovations to "system proven in operating environments".
Projects funded can vary in size, from 2M€ to over 100M€, and involve at least 3 partners.
Who can be funded?
Different funding programmes with different objectives might target different groups. Usually the funding programmes and the specific calls would mention who is the target of that call.
In general, most EU funding calls are open for researchers, private companies of all sizes, public bodies like cities, regions and member states, non-profits, farmers and young people.
Spinverse specialises in research and innovation funding for mid-sized and large enterprises.
What are the funding types?
The European Commission utilizes a diverse range of financial instruments: grants, loans, guarantees, equity, subsidies, prizes and procurements.
Typically, RDI funding comes in the form of grants, covering 70-100% cost of the project. A combination of financial instruments at EU and national level can also be applied.
Is your project the best fit to get funded?
- Is your solution innovative?
- Is your solution impactful in the sense that it addresses either economic development, climate change, new technologies or health?
- Has your solution reached the required maturity: have the products or services been demonstrated in a feasible environment?
- Do you need funding for a new idea based on current features but clearly differs from your current business offering?
- Do you need go-to-market support for R&D operations or business planning?
- Can you visualise 100 M€ business operations
If your answer is yes to some of these questions, read on to learn how you can apply for EU funding and how Spinverse can support you.
Planning a proposal
A call for proposals is a grant opportunity and includes all relevant information to submit a proposal to get funded. The call defines the scope, objectives, outcomes, eligibility criteria and evaluation criteria.
By reading the call text with utter attention, you can define if your organization's objectives and activities match with what the funding call is asking for. The more matching your proposal to the funding call, the more likely it is that you can get funded.
To find all open calls, you can use the official EU Funding and Tenders Portal. Your country will most likely have a national contact point or a trade organization that handle the EU funding locally as well, such as Business Finland in Finland.
Alternatively, you can use commercial search engine which are built for optimal search and utilized AI engine to match your project description with most relevant calls across many EU funding programmes. This option is best for beginners and newcomers to EU funding because the AI engine can recommend relevant calls for you instantly without you needing to spend hours to research all 42 EU funding programmes and their respective calls. Spinbase is one of the best commercial EU funding search tools out there.
Check out our EU Funding Playbook below for some tips on main points and tips for reading calls for proposals.
Based on the scope, expected outcomes and other details in the call for proposals, you can define which contributions and partner types are necessary.
- Consider your product/service value chain and engage with your most relevant stakeholders
- Check with your network or related communities or industry associations
- Utilize partner search tool if you need: CORDIS and Spinbase are a few to help.
Found your matching partners? Start engaging with them and discussing key issues such as budget shares and IPR.
The official way to submit your proposal is through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. Upon registration, you will receive a Participant Identification Code (PIC) that is used during the application process.
Registration goes similar with other digital services: Go to EU Funding and Tenders Portal and click "Register".
The call for proposals should be your bible when it comes to preparing the proposal. The applications usually also include multiple required annexes on top of the main document. Though varying in size and requirement depending on what the call is asking for, 3 key areas are to be expected:
- Excellence
How innovative and sound your proposed project and concept is. - Impact
How does your project contribute to the call's expected outcomes and society as a whole. - Implementation
The quality of your implementation methods and plan and the quality of the project team and consortium.
This is a good place to remind that there is help should you need it. You're not alone in this process and experts are out there, happy to guide you.
Spinverse has a wealth of experience in winning over 500M€ in EU grants for our clients. Contact us today for a free consultation.- Quality check before submitting your proposal.
Get an expert who is not involved in creating the proposal to give your their objective opinions.
Spinverse has 70+ experts who can help you with quality-check your proposals. - Provide your arguments in a clear and concise manner, with plenty of evidence to back it up.
This is quite a no-brainer when it comes to writing any kind of application. But it is extremely important in EU funding because the evaluators usually have a very limited time to assess very technical projects. - Paint the big picture: your project has a scope and objective but where does it fit in? It is good to highlight the context and the big picture and how your RDI project fits in.
- Have enough time: preparing an EU proposal is no joke. It can take 6-9 months to gather all inputs from all consortium partners and build a strong proposal. Reserve enough time for you and your team to work on this.
It's a great achievements to receive funding from the European Commission! Congratulations!
The first step is to sign the grant agreement with the EC. You can also revisit the submitted proposals and agreements with the consortium to revive your memory before starting the project.
Assigning a Project Manager can also ensure leadership and ownership of the process. A contact person and Legal Entity Appointed Representative (LEAR) are 2 other key personnel needed for the formalities.
Your project might have ambitious objectives and scope. So sometimes, it's better to break it down to achievable phases and work packages.
Reporting is another important element in the project implementation. This is how the EU audit and reimburse your costs. Reporting requirements are usually provided and you should familiarize and ensure to follow the instructions or ask questions if something is not clear.
But above all, this is your great achievement! Your innovative projects has been properly investigated by public authorities and entrusted with large funding. Make sure to communicate this achievement to the outside world, you can gain credibility, new connections and opportunities through this!
Applying for EU funding is a satisfying but also demanding process. The good thing is that you don't have to do it alone, we can help you in all the stages of this process.
How Spinverse can help
We support you at every step of the EU funding process. From ideating project ideas, building funding roadmap, writing proposals, finding partners and managing the funded projects. Check out our full services here.
Our growing team has over 100 years of collective industry experience and 12+ PhDs with vast expertise in bioeconomy, digitalization, artificial intelligence, hydrogen, manufacturing, defence and more.
We have worked with nearly 9,000 companies around the world and helped them secure over 500 M€ in EU funding.
What makes us stand out from the crowd
2 B€+
public funds coordinated
500 M€+
EU grants received
65 countries
in our research and innovation network
Our customers give us a Satisfaction Score of 9/10
"Spinverse gave us indispensable insights regarding necessary project information on the call requirements for the Horizon Europe. The application required a lot of information which was expected but not explicitly mentioned. With Spinverse expertise, we were successful in securing this EU funding worth 16 M€ for the project." Kristaps Stankus, Project Coordinator, LATVIJAS FINIERIS
"The proposal preparation would have been difficult without Spinverse's support. Their expertise in EU project building and in setting up an international consortium was instrumental in our success. We successfully secure 9.2 M€ in EU funding for our AI-enabled healthcare project. " Suzan Ikävalko, Research and Innovation Manager, HELSINKI UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL (HUS)
"With the support from Spinverse, our ambitious targets will now be concretized. The special expertise from Spinverse in addressing all the critical details during the preparation phase earned us a winning proposal. VTT receives 2.9 M€ for an innovative CO2 capturing technology." Tekla Tammelin, Research Professor, VTT
Want a free consultation with us?
Spinverse specialises in research and development grants for mid-sized and large enterprises. We have a wide range of services to address your various R&D needs.
Contact Janne to explore how you can benefit.
